PHILADELPHIA — Troy Tulowitzki spent six hours in a Philadelphia doctor’s office Wednesday, his career defined more by MRIs than RBIs these days.

He was exhausted, frustrated and yet, ironically, relieved. He finally knows what’s wrong with his left leg, even if the news was demoralizing for the spiraling Rockies. Tulowitzki will undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove scar tissue irritating a nerve in his groin, likely sidelining the two-time all-star shortstop for eight weeks.

“That’s a blessing knowing what it is, but the downside of that is more than likely he’s lost for eight weeks. That’s what we are planning on and will adjust off that,” general manager Dan O’Dowd told The Denver Post. “Like any club, we are built around our best players. Even if we were having an average year rather than a bad year, losing him would be problematic.”

Tulowitzki, 27, underwent an MRI and a battery of tests Wednesday, ruling out issues with his hip labrum. While similar, this injury is not classified as a sports hernia. After the surgery, Tulo will be prescribed three weeks of rest before slowly resuming baseball activity. This is the fourth major injury he has suffered since 2008, missing significant time with a torn left quadriceps, lacerated right hand, broken left wrist and the current groin injury that he first injured in the season’s second game and later aggravated on May 30 against the Dodgers.

This surgery only cements the notion that he’s prone to injury, a label that annoys Tulowitzki, if for no other reason than he has taken every step imaginable to strengthen his body and improve his diet since 2008. He spent this past winter doing cardio interval training in Las Vegas, while working with sprint coaches and doing yoga multiple times a week.

“The hardest thing for him was not knowing what was wrong,” said close friend and veteran Jason Giambi. “That can be so frustrating as a player. This is not good news, but it’s good mental news for him. The important thing is that we get Tulo right. We have just have to keep plugging along. The game doesn’t give you any other choice.”

Marco Scutaro, 36, has been manning shortstop in Tulowitzki’s absence and will continue to start, though Jonathan Herrera (hamstring) is close to returning from his rehab assignment and could see time at the position, as could Chris Nelson.

Tulo’s absence will only increase the volume of those calling for him to move to third base. He bristles at such talk.

“I don’t remember when a guy coming off Gold Gloves has been asked to move positions,” Tulowitzki said recently. “I didn’t get hurt on defense.”

Tulowitzki, a back-to-back Silver Slugger winner and a three-time top-eight finisher in NL MVP voting, was placed on the disabled list May 31 after hurting his left groin while breaking out of the batter’s box against the Dodgers. He aggravated the injury on the first game of a Triple-A rehab assignment last week. After hitting a home run and later lining a single up the middle, Tulo felt pain while running the bases.

“My spirits aren’t good,” Tulowitzki said Tuesday.

Tulowitzki had begun to simmer offensively before his injury. He is hitting .287 with eight home runs, 27 RBIs and a .360 on-base percentage. If he returns about Aug. 18, as expected, there will be only 44 games remaining. The fewest games he has ever played in a season is 101 in 2008.

“Hopefully he won’t have to deal with this anymore, and when he gets back he will be fine,” outfielder Carlos Gonzalez said.

“We miss him, and it’s hard to believe he’s going to be out of the lineup that long. But we need him healthy.”

Troy joined The Denver Post in 2002 as the Rockies' beat writer and became a Broncos beat writer in 2014 before assuming the lead role before the 2015 season. He is a past president of the local chapter of Baseball Writers Association of America and has won more than 20 local and national writing awards since graduating from the University of Colorado journalism school with honors in 1993.

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